Iran cargo plane crash leaves 15 dead, Army says

Rescue teams extinguish the fire that erupted after the plane crashed in Alborz Province, around 40 kilometers West of Tehran, taking a survivor to a local hospital and 15 corpses to morgue. (Fars News Agency/Released)

This article was originally published by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and is reprinted with permission.

A cargo plane coming from Kyrgyzstan has crashed near the Iranian capital, with the country’s military saying only one person of the 16 on board survived.

The Boeing 707 exited the runway and hit a wall while trying to land in bad weather at Fath airport near the city of Karaj, 40 kilometers west of Tehran, reports said on January 14.

Only one person, a flight engineer, of the 16 people who were onboard was found alive and taken to hospital for treatment, the military said in a statement carried by the semiofficial Fars news agency.

The head of Iran’s emergency department, Pirhossein Kolivand, told state TV that seven bodies were recovered from the wreckage of the plane and that the search continued for others on board.

State television showed pictures of a plume of smoke rising from the crash site.

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“A Boeing cargo 707 place carrying meat from Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan had an emergency landing at Fath airport today…the flight engineer has been dispatched to the hospital,” the military said.

The aircraft “exited the runway during the landing and caught fire after hitting the wall at the end of the runway,” it added.

There was some confusion about who owned the plane.

A spokesman for Iran’s civil aviation said the aircraft belonged to Kyrgyzstan, but a spokeswoman for Manas airport near the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek, said the plane belonged to Iran’s Payam Air.

The spokeswoman also said that the Boeing crashed in Iran after departing Manas airport.

General Shahin Taghikhani, a spokesman for Iran’s army, told state TV that the plane and its crew were Iranian.